First Kiss Friday with Alina K. Field

Hello, lovely readers, and welcome to my First Kiss Friday blog. I’m happy to have my friend and returning author Alina K. Field who has an excerpt from her upcoming novel Her Impeccable Scoundrel. We hope you enjoy this first kiss scene. Happy reading!

Excerpt:

“It smells delightful in here.”

Blythe jumped and dropped the spoon she’d been holding. Graeme was not supposed to return until the morning.

She bent to find the spoon in the shadows and saw his buckskin clad legs as he reached for the dropped utensil. He picked it up first, and when she took it from him their hands touched, sending her heart into a gallop.

His gaze swept over her, his eyes widening at her deshabille.

“Apologies for startling you.” He glanced at the table where the first batch of pasties were cooling. “Those look delicious. Oughtn’t you to be in bed?”

She waved the spoon. “There are dishes in that cabinet over there. Help yourself and then take yourself off to bed. I can sleep in the carriage tomorrow, but you’ll need your rest if you’re planning to ride all the way to London.”

She turned back to her task, picked up an apple and her knife, and heard the clatter of a plate and a bench drawing back.

“May I sit?” he asked. “This reminds me of the time I visited you here. Mrs. Davies insisted we have cakes where she was working and could keep an eye on us.”

Graeme had been one of the younger lads coming around every once in a while. She’d had her eye on another lad—until of course, Archie. How different might her life have been if she’d made a life with one of the boys she’d grown up with.

Wiping her hands on her apron, she went to draw a mug of ale and plopped it down in front of him.

“Thank you.” His hand shot out and took hers. “A countess who can cook. I had no idea.”

She pulled away and went back to her dough, her thoughts all a jumble. In the shadowy kitchen he looked like the young man who’d visited her, so young then, and now, so very virile as he devoured the pasty with gusto.

“It is not a criticism,” he said. “I think it is admirable that you can make something so delicious. In point of fact, I’m very hungry. I was too busy at Risley Manor to have much of a dinner. Stockwell and I put our heads together to arrange the post riders and horses. Lady Hermione and your maid and my valet will be here before dawn.”

“And Mr. Jarrow?”

“Yes, him as well.”

A shiver went down her spine. Graeme had spoken those words directly into her ear, the warmth of his breath tickling her.

“Can I help you?” he whispered.

Her hand slipped, the knife pricked her finger, and she dropped it.

He took her hand and produced a handkerchief, pressing it against the wound and bending to examine the spot of blood.

“It’s nothing.” She tried to tug her hand away.

“You’re right,” he said. “It’s nothing. But I’ll hold this to it a bit longer, and then maybe you’ll let me slice the apples. Are we making apple pie? Wasn’t it apple pie that Mrs. Davies served us that day?”

“We are making nothing. You are going to get some rest. And it was rhubarb pie she served.”

“Ah,” he said on a long sigh. “You remember that day in as much detail as I do.” He touched her waist and turned her to face him. “Blythe,” he said, leaning closer. “Blythe.”

His lips touching hers, he pulled her close until her breasts pressed against his broad chest, their hearts beating together. A soft nibble, a gentle press, and then he angled his head and took the kiss deeper, bending her back against the counter. Heat flared and spread through her, wings of desire fluttering inside her. The kiss was gentle and seductive and then firmly inviting, his mouth opening and coaxing, and she shook off his handkerchief and threaded her fingers through the hair at the back of his head.

She wanted to fly away on that kiss, to submerge herself in sheer pleasure; the sheer pleasure of kissing a man who, if she was honest, she’d been wanting to kiss since he’d walked into the drawing room four days ago. Or had it been five days?

Cool air touched her shoulder and she looked down. He’d loosened her apron and robe and was touching her breast through the cotton of her nightgown, gently, each stroke sparking rivers of molten desire straight to her nether regions.

She leaned back and covered her gasps with one hand and pressed the other flat against his chest. She must stop him.

But maybe not yet. It had been so long, so very, very long since she’d felt anything like desire.

Her Impeccable Scoundrel, by Alina K. Field
Book 44 in the Wicked Widows League multi-author series
Release day November 18, 2025

Blythe Blatchfield, widowed Countess of Chilcombe, has emerged from her year of mourning still battling the dark legacy of her husband, who left a new will disinheriting her and a reputation in shambles. Vowing to fight this injustice, she has launched a campaign to restore her place in society and claim the inheritance that should be hers from the man whose interference years earlier led to her unhappy marriage, the new Earl of Chilcombe.

Called back to England to take up his late cousin’s title, diplomat Graeme Blatchfield is eager to see his late cousin’s widow and learn for himself whether the rumors about the woman he once held a childish infatuation for are true. Having plunged into marriage with the last earl—Graeme’s fault for revealing their tryst—she’s been tainted by her husband’s decadence. Rumors swirl in the men’s clubs about the new widow. Rumors that may or may not be true. Forced by matters of the estate to spend time together, he soon discovers the vulnerable and lonely woman underneath the society mask. Can he get her to forgive him—and more?  

Universal preorder link:  https://books2read.com/HerImpeccableScoundrel

Author Bio and links:

USA Today bestselling author Alina K. Field earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and German literature but prefers the happier world of romance fiction. Her roots are in the Midwestern U.S., but after six very, very, very cold years in Chicago, she moved to Southern California where she shares a midcentury home with a golden-eyed terrier and a feisty chihuahua and only occasionally misses snow. 

Social Media Links:

Website: https://alinakfield.com/

Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/Alina-K.-Field/e/B00DZHWOKY

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BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/alina-k-field

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7173518.Alina_K_Field

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